Frédéric Oudéa (born 3 July 1963) is a French businessmann who was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...

and as president of the

European Banking Federation The European Banking Federation (EBF) is a trade association representing national banking associations in countries of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association. It represents over 3,500 banks and about 2.6 million employees. ...

Early life

Oudéa grew up in Paris. His father Paul was a medical professor who died when Frederic was 13. After this, Oudéa reportedly took care of his two younger brothers. Though he originally planned to be a surgeon, as his fore-bearers were all doctors, he opted instead to attend the Lycee Louis-Le-Grand to study engineering. He then went to the

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, followed by the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

. During his stint there, he backpacked through Canada, Nepal, and Burma with

Stéphane Richard Stéphane Richard (born 24 August 1961) is a French businessman who has been serving as chief executive officer and chairman of the worldwide mobile phone network Orange since 2011. In December 2021, he resigned as both chairman and chief execut ...

Career

Career in the public sector

After his education at

and

in France, Oudéa worked in the economic sector of the French civil service from 1987 until 1995. His roles during this period included Technical Adviser in the office of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, and Minister of Budget and Communication in 1993. He also worked in other government offices, including the audit department of the ministry of finance, the ministry of economy and finance, the budget ministry, and the cabinet of the ministry of treasury and communication. According to one report, the highlight of his career in the service was his time in 1993 with Sarkozy.

Career at Société Générale

Oudéa joined Société Générale in 1995 after being recruited by then-CEO Daniel Bouton, and has worked in various positions within the bank since that time, in both Paris and London. His first role was as deputy head of the bank's corporate banking division in London, where he later became head. In 1998, he was appointed to head the group's global supervisory arm, and was in charge of development of the equities division. He then was deputy CFO and CFO of the bank from 2002 until May 2008, when he took up his current position of CEO.Quiet man slips into SocGen top job
April 2008, ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

'' In November 2014, Oudéa was elected as the president of the European Banking Federation for a two-year term, effective 1 January 2015, succeeding Christian Clausen, president and CEO of

Nordea Bank Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The Nordic countries are considered ...

. During his first years in office, Oudéa came under pressure from investors and analysts due to the bank's poor performance. In 2019, the bank announced a cost reduction plan, which included cutting 1,600 jobs. That same year, Société Générale shareholders voted to give Oudéa another four-year term. In May 2022, Oudéa announced that he would not be seeking renewal after his term in office comes to an end in 2023.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 200 ...

, Non-Executive Chair of the Board of Directors (since 2022) *

Capgemini Capgemini SE is a French Multinational corporation, multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France. History Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and d ...

, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2018)Board of Directors

Non-profit organizations

Institute of International Finance The Institute of International Finance (IIF) is the association or trade group for the global financial services industry. It was created by 38 banks of leading industrialized countries in 1983 in response to the international debt crisis of the ...

(IIF), Chairman of the Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital (since 2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oudea, Frederic 1963 births Living people Businesspeople from Paris French chief executives French bankers Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni École Polytechnique alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour Inspection générale des finances (France)